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Saturday, October 22, 2005

Back to building the bots

The @#%#% cold from hell is FINALLY gone. Time to get back on track working on the robot(s).

The cool project of the day is the wireless video / audio system I'm putting together. The little 1.5" x 1.5" color camera is an amazing piece of technology. The image quality is impeccable. I actually put the camera inside my B9 microphone and it somehow filtered out the screen and showed me a clear beautiful image. I couldn't believe it. But I won't mount it in my microphone, I'll leave that for the miniature high sensitivity microphone. I think I'm going to mount the camera in the programming bay area because if I put it in the collar, it will be hard to interact/see the children. The automatic focus/white balance and low light features make this system super cool. All the components are 12v so it will be integrated into the B9's atomic power grid.

I cut a pair of 1/2" mdf a tread panel covers. When I tear my B9 completely down they will be sanded fit to the tread section and finished.

I finally decided to attach my torso hooks to the torso today. After a lot of measuring and decisions, Murphy struck again. I don't know how I did it but the torso hook shifted and I didn't notice it until after I drilled the holes. The net result was I needed to fill a small hole. Mixing up a batch of fiberglass and filling it was no big deal. B9 is going to get his final coat of paint in November anyways.

The C3PO head had the recepticals attached to the inside of the head for lights. I'll work on lighting tomorrow. The eyes were cleaned up a little and a couple more coats of gold gloss were applied. C3PO looks good. I wish he had a body to go with the head. The new R2D2 is hilarious as he chatters and responds to voice commands while I work in the garage. Very entertaining.